Canada is a vast nation with ten provinces and three territories. It was first inhabitant by the aboriginals at the time known as Indians, and later by the 15th century the French and British settles started to arrive and settle (Greer, 1996). Just like your country Canada was put in a similar situation, with a multiculturalsociety located in all around our nation, the French, the British and the aboriginals. Striving to build a democratic nation to serve its inhabitants needs. 1967 was the break through for Canadians; this is when Canadabrought home its constitution, from the Great Britain known as the British North American Act (Hodge, 1985). During this time Canada had its parliament but could not pass laws without the British approval. Until March 1982 with the approval of the British Monarchy, Canada took control of its entire country (Hodge, 1985). At a young age Canada has gotten a great reputation among nations around the world as one of the best countries to live in. This is due so with the help of its government and the governing style known as federalism. Federalism is a form of political organization that shares its political powers with various levels of the government. Although the head of the State is the Queen her powers are merely ceremonial. The main power lies with the two levels of government, the federal and the Provincial (Encyclopedia Britannica 2011).
Power is allocated mainly through two main levels of government that is recognized by the constitution, federal and provincial. The first constitutionally recognized level of government is the federal level in which is responsible for laws for the entire country headed by the Prime Minister (Herman 2010). Although the Prime Minister dominates the federal government, the Queen is still considered the head of the government. She is represented by the governor general appointed by the Prime Minister. While the second constitutionally recognized government is the Provincial, in which has the power to implement laws in their provinces independently from the federal government and the other provinces (Herman 2010). This allows provinces to flourish with it’s own provisions, and make laws that will work for their particular needs in that region. Another benefit in federalism is that the government can protect minority- local or regional interest by being able to give them level of government and autonomous political Jurisdiction and power, to be able to not fall in to victim of the majority of the country. For example Quebec has always seen them different from the rest of the nation, with the power that is constitutionally recognized through federalism Quebec has sovereignty over its boundaries and may pass laws for the benefits of the French speak provinces.
To be able to protect Quebec the government guaranteed Quebec 75 seats in the parliament regardless of how much its populations is, to be able to give them proper representation so they would not fall a victim to the rest of the English speaking provinces (Herman 2010). Federalism gives chance for citizens to participate in public decision-making, through voting systems. The same time it constraints the governments power against an individual. The two level of government keeps checks on one another. As appose to unitary government whom have a single level of government it has no way of being checked. Unitary governments can pass laws without any hardline opposition in the government system to the entire nation without being checked on even if that particular law may not be useful in that particular area of the country (Mendes, 2007). This allows the provinces to see themselves as equal partners as appose to lobbyist in the government. the provinces uses a system known as bargaining to accommodate one another to meet the needs of the province. Some may argue that federalism can be expensive process, due to the many elections such as the federal, provincial, and the municipal. These people fail to understand that this way federalism has better and faster solutions for local problems.
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The local government can, only solve for example traffic congestion in Markham Ontario, effectively and efficiently. At the same time the division of power between the federal and the provincial can lead to proper utilization of resources. For example the federal level can concentrate on the international and defensive affairs, while the provincial can take care of the local affairs. The Reason why federalism is adopted is to ensure for the provinces the need to reflect language, economics, and culture differences of a population especially ones that are concentrated geographically. The federal system of Canadians has realized and recognizes the existence, and acknowledges the different cultures within the society. Much like your society with its diversity. The federal system appreciates thediversity in society and endeavor to keep these diverse opinions together.
